Midwest Nature Lover

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Saturday, March 6, 2010

What is our first crop planted for the year? Onions. Yellow onions, to be precise.

And we had some unexpected help. My cousin Savana, the fastest onion-slinger in the Midwest.

Anyway, first things first, Dad tilled a row in the upper garden yesterday.

Then today, he and Savana threw in the fertilizer and raked it in. Jack cheered on her efforts from the sidelines, before he grew bored and chased a cat with Cloe. Cloe declined to become a farm dog this year.

Once that was done, Dad armed himself with his trusty tomato stake and poked two holes, side by side, all down the row. About three by four inches apart. Well, it started out that way until we still had most of a bag left so, he went back and poked some more holes in between.

Savana and my job was to stick the onion bulbs in. Mom then tucked them into their cold little dirt beds--which didn't help us much when it came time to figure out where to poke in our third row of holes.

Row marked, and we were done. Easy peasy :-)

I'll check back in a couple weeks, and see if we have any greenery showing.

Facts, Figures, and a little Nonsense:

Onions - 160 yellow onions. $1.59 per bag of 80 bulbs.

Fertilizer - 6-26-26 or as I call it the "Dippin' Dot lookalike". $15 per 50 lbs, but only about 2 lbs used.

Time - 15 minutes of good, old fashioned fun :-)

Concerns - The entire crop freezing solid in the ground :-(

Signs - Bank of Bloomsdale calendar, the trusty guide to just about everything for gardening and the like, advises the following days for plantings root crops this month: 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th (us), 10th, 11th, 12th, 30th, and 31st.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

No, we are not into medicinal benefits. Although, I do have a mortar and pestle if I wanna try making some those poultices. Once we find out what they are good for.

And no, we are not into a yoga mats (yet) or new style of pillow that will give you exercise while you fluff it. (Though buckwheat may be little--that is a quarter in that picture below--buckwheat be no light-weight).

What are we into? Apparently, green manure. It is not as nasty as it sounds. Basically, you offer up the poor plant for sacrifice, in the name of increasing the nutrients and organic matter of the soil, to make up for those veggies that try to rob the soil blind :-) You know who I am talking about, potatoes. I hear you snickering, tomatoes. Don't go around looking so innocent. Anyway, buckwheat is also good as a ground cover, smothering weed growth--although, I like the weeds. Bad bugs tend to get the munchies for them instead of the plants we get munchies for.

So, anyway, decision made, Mom went on a local quest for buckwheat since our online quest for cheap buckwheat turned up less than impressive results.

Yesterday, Mom met success at our local feed store, and triumphantly brought home the prize: our first bag of buckwheat.

15 lbs at 90 cents per lb. So about 15 bucks worth of seed.

We may have gone a little overboard, but once we find out how to store it, we are set for a while. Quite a while.

We plan on letting the first crop just go through its natural life cycle, to see how long it takes, what it does to the soil, what it looks like, how hard it is to harvest the seed if we wanna harvest it (who knows how long buckwheat seed is viable), and so on.

After that first crop, we want to use it after we take out our potatoes. That is, plant it in the second garden and till it in. If that works well as green manure, then we'll try planting it after other veggies.

Well that is about it on our first day of The Great Buckwheat Experiment. Oh, before I go, I admit there is one last reason why we are doing it.

Pure old fashioned fun :-)

Anyway, stay tuned to the blog to hear about our adventures in the fine art of buckwheat farming.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Ah, what can one say about an amaryllis. They grow tall--fast. Inside. Even on a table top quite a bit away from natural sunlight. Make that winter sunlight, no less. And if that feat weren't enough, they also produce beautiful vibrant flowers that last several days. All this we learned from experience, raising our first bouncing baby red.

Here is a timeline of the late Christmas present, planted sometime in mid-January. Photos range from Jan 24 to Feb 20, 2010.

Ahhhh.....

Since we are so proud of our baby, how about a few more pictures.

Here's January 24, 2010:

With a close up on the size...

Look how tall she is. 21 inches!

Here is February 6, 2010:

What happened to the rest of January? Well, the baby was a wee bit shy and didn't want to reveal much . . .

. . . until now. See.

Here is February 7, 2010:

And look what a day can do!

Lookit! Siamese Twins!

Here is February 8, 2010:

Hmm, not much change here. Except in camera angles.

Here is February 9, 2010:

That's our little expansionist, that she is. We are so proud.

Here is February 11, 2010:

And look what happens when you miss a day. Shame.

Here is February 12, 2010:

Well, she is no longer a Siamese Twin . . . but a Siamese Trip--Quadr--oh, Siamese Multiple :-)

With a late bloomer.

Here is February 15, 2010:

Ah, they grow up so fast. Sniff. Sniff. ;-(

Here is Today, February 20, 2010:

Wow, where does the time go? But I've heard that if you do a little trimming, well, more like a buzz cut after she begins to droop with old age, she'll be like a . . . young bud again. Yeah!